Hurricanes Swept by VolleyCards -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 AIKO, ANNA ALTER MIAMI'S PLANS WITH CARDS "W"

Miami Volleyball came into the LNFCU Sunday afternoon with a bit of purpose and plan. The Canes had won their last four ACC matches (GT, Syracuse, Boston College and Notre Dame) and were looking to upset the #4 Cardinals and climb a little closer toward the top spot in the conference. 

Instead. Louisville lowered the boom (not the moon) over Miami and soured the Canes afternoon with  25-19,25-19,25-20 sweep, in the LNFCU on campus. 

Miami is a good squad. Worthy of being ranked in the top 25...in my opinion...but not quite up to playing with Louisville-like skills and domination. 

Let's recap how the Cards did it.

SET ONE

Louisville began the match gangbusters and flew out to an early 6-1 edge. Sebastin the Ibus must have sent inspiration, though, from Charlottesville, where the Canes were playing football yesterday, and UM battled back to tie things at 11. "Enough of this nonsense!" Louie clearly chirped and UofL went on a  8-2 run to eliminate any chance of Miami pulling off an upset in the first set. PK and DeBeer made it 23-15 and a Charitie Luper kill ended it with the Cards putting up 25 to the Canes 19. 

SET TWO

Louisville jumped out to an early 4-1 dominance in the second set and Aiko Jones was the force behind three of the points with kills. Miami did find some continuity eventually and went on a three point run to even things up at 8-8, The Cards called on DeBeer, though and she was part of 4-0 run that helped make sure the Cards never trailed again. The Canes did manage to force a tie at 13-13, but Louisville awoke from their brief slumber and was ahead 19-15 as the teams got closer to 25. Jones and DeBeer made it 23-18. DeBeer ended it with an ace for the 25-19 final score. 

SET THREE

Miami would not give up the lead or let Louisville pull away in the final set for the longest time and, then, suddenly, it was Miami who took control of things with five straight points for a 13-10 lead over the Cards. Dani had seen enough and called a Cards timeout. She, Dan Meske and the coaching crew offered a few suggestions, the squad listened and they worked pretty well, Louisville responding with a 6-1 run to go up 16-14. Miami stopped the action to discuss that loss of lead and mustered enough in them to tie it at 17-17. PK and Anna were motivated enough by that Miami show of muscle to fire back and establish a 22-18 lead. Aiko delivered a kill to give the Cards a 24-20 lead and Luper ended set and match with a kill for the 25-20 win and three set sweep of match.

 

-- Louisville hit .258 for the match, while Miami struggled to get to .128. 

-- The Cards now head to Georgia Tech on Nov. 3rd and Clemson on Nov 5th.

-- Louisville and Pitt remain tied atop the conference at 11-1. The Cards are 20-2 overall and Pitt is 20-3. Just behind them in the ACC standings are Georgia Tech and Florida State at 10-2. 

(PHOTOS BY JARED ANDERSON)

paulie